Blog articles

Due to the change in management it’s been quite a while since I last updated. But we’re back! And I want to restart with a blog about commuting to and from Narita airport. Some of you might not know but the largest Tokyo airport is actually not located in Tokyo, it’s located in Narita area! It takes from an hour to hour and a half to get there and there are multiple ways of doing so. Since I personally ran into many troubles with this myself, I would like to break it down for you. 1. Narita Express (N’EX) It’s a special fast train kinda like Shinkansen that takes you…

Though summers are usually all about fun, vacations and hanging out with friends, we gotta be aware of the impending heat that comes along with the season of“fun in the sun”! The summers in Japan are pretty brutal, ruled by high humidity and heat, especially in Tokyo. However, have no fear because Japan has some awesome products to help you deal with the heat! I would like to introduce some of those products to you! I, myself being from South Florida, do understand what real heat and UV damage is all about, so I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered all the amazing summer products that Japan has to…

The summer is finally here! The season of fun in the sun, at the beach, in the mountains, at the theme parks, beneath the night skies lit up by fireworks and pretty much anything and everything that Japan has to offer. This summer we decided to start out with the theme parks! Due to the high popularity of the large theme parks like Universal Studios and Disney Land, the local parks are often forgotten or even unknown to many visitors of Japan. We thought it would be great to introduce you to some of the local theme parks of Japan, starting with Fuji Q Highland, located at the famous Japanese…

Another essential part of Tokyo life aside from transportation, entertainment, food and work, is how to stay awake and healthy during those experiences! In this entry I would like to introduce you to the popular and must-drink energy and nutritional supplement drinks of Japan! Japanese energy drinks boast themselves on containing healthy Chinese herbs as the main ingredients in supplying energy and nutrients. But there are just so many of them and they are all written in Japanese thus it’s so hard to find the right one or even to understand which one is an energy drink. So many of the travelers get overwhelmed and miss out on trying the…

What is ekiben? Ekiben comes from two Japanese words “eki” which means “train station” and “bentou” which means “boxed lunch”. Ekiben is an essential item during travel by bullet trains in Japan. They were born in the late 1800s when the first slow coal-powered trains started running in Japan, taking hours to reach their destinations and their restaurant carts being too expensive for common folk to afford. At first ekiben consisted of the simple two sesame rice balls meal but eventually the shops selling ekibens opened at the train stations providing a wider variety of lunches. Of course now, there are thousands of types of ekibens to choose from and…

As the summer in Tokyo starts heating up the streets, we decided to introduce you to more cool things inside the JR Tokyo train station, a perfect place to pass through or just enjoy on the hot summer day. Tokyo train station is the busiest train station in eastern Japan and boasts an amazing architectural design and the greatest history. When you pass through the magnificent dome gates, you can find a large shopping area where you can discover a ton of fun things and delicious foods. This time we would like to introduce you to the souvenir shop inside the Tokyo station’s Southern Terrace, called NIPPON-ICHI. Originally based in…

As a part of entertainment industry in Japan, I would like to introduce you to its music and all of its amazing musicians that many of you might not be aware of. This time I would like to start with a Japanese rock band that is active both in Japan and all around the world – VAMPS! VAMPS are a rock duo consisting of HYDE (vocal) and K.A.Z.(guitar), formed in 2008 and aggressively rising in popularity all across Japan and Asia, Europe and the US. This spring, as well as performing at various rock festivals across the US, VAMPS went on the US tour with the legendary American rocker Nikki…

As I mentioned in the ATM entry, Japan is mainly operating on cash-system payment methods. However, there are other options that have become widely and conveniently available in the recent years. IC cards: SUICA IC cards (Integrated-chip cards) are a type of a pre-paid card that is shaped just like a regular credit card but it can be purchased and charged at the train stations only. Having an IC card eliminates an inconvenience of constantly having to carry around cash and trying to figure out how much your ticket to a certain train station would cost. After you got your cash from the ATM just transfer it to your IC…

Every time a traveler visits a different country the question of currency and how to pay for what in what way arises. Whether to use cash or a credit card, which stores will accept which type of payment, will the international fees on the credit card be high, if we decide to use cash which ATM will work? Each country has its own rules and systems when it comes to the ways to pay or accept payments. Unlike USA where people rarely use cash at all, in Japan it’s more common to use cash or IC cards and even though recently credit cards are being accepted at some businesses, not…